How to Shop for an Online Health Insurance Quote
The basis for guaranteeing non-emergency medical care, health insurance may sell itself, but it certainly doesn’t buy itself and you need to know what’s out there, in terms of both companies and policies before you make any final purchasing decisions. Is it more important to limit premium or out-of-pocket costs? What’s the worst-case scenario given this policy option? In what ways will your health care choices be limited by this coverage? How will this policy affect the future of your health insurance and medical care? How does your current health status affect these calculations? Many of these questions can only be answered after a thorough discussion of your particular health care needs and financial resources. But there are several tips that apply to almost everyone and will help you shop for an online health insurance quote.
How to Get a Health Insurance Quote if You’ve Lost Coverage
There are many ways to lose your health insurance. You can lose your job, your company can drop your coverage, you can get slapped with a pre-existing condition. If you lose your job, you can purchase COBRA, but this may not be your best course of action. According to a report from the Commonwealth Fund, less than 10% of eligible workers opted for COBRA in 2006. Obviously, many of these people decided to simply go without health insurance, but many others simply found plans better suited to their situation. The only way to find out is to get health insurance quotes. If you have a pre-existing condition, you can enter a high-risk pool until the category is completely done away with in 2014, but not all pre-existing conditions are the same, either. If you have a comparatively mild condition, even if it’s caused considerable medical expenses, this doesn’t necessarily mean these high-risk pools are your best bet. Again, the only way to find out is to get an insurance quote from each source.
Reasons to Shop for a Health Insurance Quote if You Have Coverage
Needless to say, health care reform law is changing the rules of shopping for health insurance. Lifetime coverage limits will be a thing of the past by the end of 2010, even annual limits will have greater restrictions than before. Other changes are likely to affect you in ways that you don’t yet understand. The end to pre-existing conditions, for example, may force insurance costs higher with premiums sure to follow. Of course, premiums are going up at alarming rates to begin with, but some insurance companies’ rates are going up faster than others. Perhaps, you’ve had low-cost health insurance through a company that practices rescission on a wide scale. These companies’ costs may go up a lot faster than others, prompting you to make a switch to a better company, if you just take the time to get health insurance quotes when your policy is up for renewal.
The Benefits of an Online Health Insurance Quote
You may be leery of using the Internet to find insurance quotes, but you’re only driving up your health insurance costs unnecessarily. An online health insurance quote is a great way to maximize the value of your insurance dollar, whether you need low-cost, high-deductible coverage or a more comprehensive health insurance plan. Online quotes allow insurance companies to find new customers for a fraction of the cost of conventional advertising and marketing strategies based on health insurance brokers. In some cases, these insurance brokers have commissions of as much as 15% of the policy cost. Policies sold over the Internet have their own brokers and customer service reps, but since the legwork is done for them, insurance companies don’t need to pay nearly this high of a commission rate, savings which can be passed on to customers.
With the evolving state of the health care and health insurance system in this country, it’s going to be more important than ever to get a health insurance quote each year to make sure have the best plan for the best price. But you probably don’t have the luxury of spending dozens of hours on a single purchasing decision, no matter how important it is to your family. But by taking just a few minutes to fill out a simple online form, you’ll be able to review several, online health insurance quotes on your own time and from the comfort of your own home.
